Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

New macbook pro has 12 battery cycles

C

chikhao

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 5, 2010
20
0
Hi all,
As the title suggested, I've just got a brand new 15'' macbook pro, when i checked the battery however, there's already12 cycles on it. and I noticed it doesn't last for the more than 8 hours as apple claimed (I am only surfing the web), do you think it's worth it to ask an replacement?
Thanks for any suggestion.:(
 
It arrived with 12 cycles already on it? Or you have put 12 cycles on it? If it arrived with 12 cycles on it, you're due a new battery.
 
I remember my Macbook Late 2007 battery came with a few cycles on it already. This was a day one purchase when it was new too.
 
GGJstudios said:
It arrived with 12 cycles already on it? Or you have put 12 cycles on it? If it arrived with 12 cycles on it, you're due a new battery.
Click to expand...
I just got it today, it's 12 cycles already when I opened it. So unlikely that i put 12 on it. just wanna know how often does this kind thing happen. if many people are in the situation with me, i won't bother the hassle, otherwise, i will be a little bit uncomfortable with it.
 
It's impossible that you put 12 cycles on it in one day. I've owned mine since Thursday and I've charged it on and off since then with only running it down completely today. I just checked System Profiler and Battery Cycle Count: 2

BTW, I intentionally let it run down completely today so that I could calibrate the battery. I suspect the 1st cycle was done by the factory.

Mark
 
I don't think the factory puts any cycles on the battery. I received my MBP today and I have 0 cycles on the battery.
 
While 12 cycles isn't a major loss in battery life (12/1000 = 1.2%) it is still extremely strange. Note that even with a 0-cycle battery, you're unlikely to get the 8-hours claimed (but you should be getting pretty close). I'd at least call up the Apple store you bought it from and tell them about your situation... See what kind of excuse they come up with? Ask if you can get an in-store battery replacement. If they have to mail it out that would be a huge pain... Heck, if you want you could probably even ask for an exchange if they aren't willing to do an in-store replacement. While it's not a big problem, it IS unusual and personally I think I would feel violated on some level.. no?
 
I am a careful battery user, I only put 10 cycles for my last laptop in the first two months, and now suddenly, my new macbook pro has 12 cycles already when i open it. kind of very uneasy for me. 12 cycles equal to my two months' of usage. which is kind of unfair. please let me know more of your macbook battery cycles if you have a new machine, Thank you very much.
 
zMudvayne said:
While 12 cycles isn't a major loss in battery life (12/1000 = 1.2%) it is still extremely strange. Note that even with a 0-cycle battery, you're unlikely to get the 8-hours claimed (but you should be getting pretty close). I'd at least call up the Apple store you bought it from and tell them about your situation... See what kind of excuse they come up with? Ask if you can get an in-store battery replacement. If they have to mail it out that would be a huge pain... Heck, if you want you could probably even ask for an exchange if they aren't willing to do an in-store replacement. While it's not a big problem, it IS unusual and personally I think I would feel violated on some level.. no?
Click to expand...
indeed, I fell kind of violated, i payed money for a brand new machine.
 
chikhao said:
I noticed it doesn't last for the more than 8 hours as apple claimed (I am only surfing the web)
Click to expand...
Do you have your screen set to 50% brightness? That's the setting Apple used when they got 8 hours of battery life.

Testing conducted by Apple in March 2010 using preproduction 2.66GHz Intel Core i7–based MacBook Pro units. Battery life depends on configuration and use. See www.apple.com/batteries for more information. The wireless productivity test measures battery life by wirelessly browsing various websites and editing text in a word processing document with display brightness set to 50%.
Click to expand...
 
chikhao said:
indeed, I fell kind of violated, i payed money for a brand new machine.
Click to expand...

Then discussion over buddy! If you're uncomfortable with it, don't try to justify it as within normal manufacturing... because it clearly is not -- 12 cycles is way too many. Call 1-800-APPLE or your local store and tell them your problem. Inform them that it had 12 cycles already logged on the machine and that you either a) want them to replace the battery in the machine or b) want them to exchange it. Apple usually has great customer service and you could argue that because the machine has been used substantially you don't know what other components have been used and you are wary of this machine.
 
zMudvayne said:
Then discussion over buddy! If you're uncomfortable with it, don't try to justify it as within normal manufacturing... because it clearly is not -- 12 cycles is way too many. Call 1-800-APPLE or your local store and tell them your problem. Inform them that it had 12 cycles already logged on the machine and that you either a) want them to replace the battery in the machine or b) want them to exchange it. Apple usually has great customer service and you could argue that because the machine has been used substantially you don't know what other components have been used and you are wary of this machine.
Click to expand...
Thank you man, Now I know that I am not the only one that feel this way.
 
My battery came with 2 cycles but the computer is new and everything was sealed it it doesn't matter to me.
 
loganck said:
Excuse my ignorance, but how do you check how many cycles your battery has? Also, what exactly is a cycle?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Open System Profiler (either use Spotlight to find it or go to About this Mac and open it that way) and then select the "Power" section. It should give your battery cycles there. A "cycle" is a full charge / discharge of the battery. Each cycle moves the battery closer to not being able to hold a charge - - Apple states that the built in battery can maintain a charge for over 1000 cycles.

alphaod said:
My battery came with 2 cycles but the computer is new and everything was sealed it it doesn't matter to me.
Click to expand...
2 cycles is normal. 12 is not.
 
loganck said:
Excuse my ignorance, but how do you check how many cycles your battery has? Also, what exactly is a cycle?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

To check you look in System Profiler :)apple:—>About This Mac—>More Info…)
mr_power-042010.png


1 cycle is defined by 1 full discharge to 0% and then 1 full charge to 100% or a variation of that; so 2 discharges to 50% and then 2 full charges to 100% is also 1 cycle.
 
Excuse my ignorance as well, but given that the more cycles you have on your battery the closer your battery is to going kaput, is it best to never let your battery fully discharge except when calibrating the battery? This would make sense given that do so would prevent the accumulation of cycles. Is my thinking right?

Also, my first mac will be here tomorrow (15" CTO) so I was wondering if the battery is already calibrated from the factory or if I need to do that myself?

For the OP, is your MBP a non-CTO, i.e. did you buy it from an Apple store. If so, is it possible that you received a re-packaged MBP that was returned by another customer who purchased it early last week? Or does the Apple store send returned macs back to Apple corporate?
 
chikhao said:
I am a careful battery user, I only put 10 cycles for my last laptop in the first two months, and now suddenly, my new macbook pro has 12 cycles already when i open it. kind of very uneasy for me. 12 cycles equal to my two months' of usage. which is kind of unfair. please let me know more of your macbook battery cycles if you have a new machine, Thank you very much.
Click to expand...
So take it back and get a new battery lol. My refirb Mbp only had 2 cycles on it when I got it so you are definitely entitled to a new one since your machine is brand new.
 
Consider you may also have 12 cycles worth of use on the laptop itself. I'd call Apple or return it for safe measures.
 
There is no telling what happend but maybe it's not showing correctly. Have yiu restarted?

Oh btw now that I'm thinking about it I know Apple used to tell you to reset the smc by taking out the battery to reset while holding the power button but how is that possible now days lol? Is there a different way now??
 
Just thought I'd chime in that my MBP came with about 95% charge, and I charged it up to 100% and it has 2 cycles on it.
 
Mine had about a half of a cycle on it, because the first time I used it (about 2 hours or so on battery) and recharged it, it said 1. Oh well - enjoyed the 0 cycles while it lasted, lol.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back